


Ley-lines

by praiseofshadows



Series: that hunter au I'm not writing [3]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-01-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 13:30:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/praiseofshadows/pseuds/praiseofshadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I'm Jane,” she tells him as she hands him the casserole, corning ware still warm from the oven.  “Jane Foster.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ley-lines

Dad decides they're spending the summer in Puento Antiguo. Officially, the idea is to have a “home base” while Thor studies (again) for his GED, but Loki's always been good at reading between the lines. They're spending the summer in Puento Antiguo because Dad's broke and crazy old Erik Selvig always lets them crash rent free in that apartment he saves especially for hunters.

Jane is Erik's latest apprentice-slash-groupie, but she seems to care more about the theoretical parts of magic than its more practical applications.

“I'm Jane,” she tells him as she hands him the casserole, corning ware still warm from the oven. “Jane Foster.”

“Loki,” Loki says, taking the casserole because it's either that or let it fall on the floor, and if it falls on the floor, he's the one who'll have to clean it up. He steps back to let her into the apartment. It's a dump, of course, because Dad and Thor can't be bothered to keep anything clean, and Loki doesn't see what he has to make an effort if they won't. Still, he feels rather embarrassed to let Jane inside. He leads her down the grungy hallway into the kitchen and offers her iced tea, and she starts babbling about her work on ley-lines.

Loki privately abhors the term ley-lines, finding it far too new age. He much prefers calling them corpse roads. It is unimaginative, perhaps, but it is far preferable to remember that corpse roads – however helpful – are as dangerous as the monsters that travel them. But Jane's work is interesting enough that Loki ignores her questionable terminology.

Thor, because he can smell a free meal from at least a mile, stumbles into the kitchen, half-awake and without a shirt, and Jane is just gone, all her words forgotten. And Loki smirks because he's had years to watch the effect Thor's muscles have on otherwise erudite women, and it never gets less funny.

But, and here's the part where it all goes wrong: instead of taking the by-now lukewarm casserole and a fork and _leaving_ , Thor sits himself down on the extra kitchen stool and starts _asking_ Jane about her work. Thor. Caring about magic. And worse still, that's not the end of it: Thor invites her out to dinner the following night as a thank-you for the casserole.

Jane does this little pleased flutter at Thor's issuance of the invitation, and Thor goes so far as to _walk her to the door_ , like he's suddenly fallen into a period drama, manners and all.

“ _What_ was that?” Loki asks the moment Jane is gone.

Thor shrugs. “She's nice. And interesting. And you've been wanting to try out that diner since we drove into town. Think of it as a two-for-one.”

“You hate magical theory.”

Thor shrugs again. “Not when people bother explaining it.”

As Loki has, on several different occasions, explained what he was doing to his brother and had that explanation rejected in favor of football, food, and fist-fights, Loki concludes _people_ means Jane. 

His conclusion is proved correct because suddenly Thor is a big fan of _people_ and wants them (Jane) around constantly. Before long, Jane is coming over to watch tv, to play pick-up basketball, to eat take-out. Thor invites her everywhere: to bars, to movies, and to restaurants. She stares at him with hearts in her eyes, and Loki's very much afraid that Thor's starting to look back.

“You like her,” he accuses. He's sitting on the closed toilet seat, watching Thor shave. Thor _never_ shaves.

Thor smiles at him through the mirror. Some people (Jane) might dub the smile fond, but Loki just thinks it's dopey. “What's not to like?”

And that's exactly the problem, isn't it? There really isn't anything to dislike about Jane. She's smart, funny, nice. And she knows all about the things that go bump in the night, which, it must be admitted, is always a plus.

“Besides,” Thor says, “you like her, too. You must. Otherwise you'd tell her off about the ley-line thing.”

“It's called being _polite_ , Thor,” Loki says. 

Thor just laughs and splashes water at him. Loki dodges but not quickly enough. “Thor!” 

“You like her,” Thor repeats, smug and sure in that way only Thor can be.

Over dinner, at yet _another_ diner Thor just can't wait to take Jane, Loki takes a sharp, vicious pleasure in telling Jane just how asinine it is to call corpse roads 'ley-lines.' He uses very small words and by the end of it, Jane's cheeks are burning with embarrassment, and she immediately excuses herself to the diner's grimy restroom. Loki hates himself for it, but he hates Thor just as much for making Loki prove Thor wrong.

“ _Loki_ ,” Thor says, leaning over the table. There's no rage in his voice, only disappointment, and somehow that makes Loki hate Thor even more.

“You're the one who reminded me about ley-lines,” Loki says. “So you have no one to blame but yourself.” He slides himself out of the booth and doesn't bother looking back as he says, “You have fun with Jane. I'll find my own way home.”


End file.
